


Flora

by soldiermom1973



Series: 1,000 years (A Reconciliation Story) [11]
Category: Mass Effect (Comics), Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect - Various Authors, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Flora - Freeform, Fluff, Gen, N7 Month 2019, Normandy - Freeform, pr run
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 06:51:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21369961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soldiermom1973/pseuds/soldiermom1973
Summary: During a PR run, Allie sees a rather shy child but can only coax her into talking with the help of a friend.
Relationships: Female Shepard & James Vega, James Vega & Allie Shepard, Kaidan Alenko/Allie Shepard, Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard
Series: 1,000 years (A Reconciliation Story) [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1460416
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Flora

**Author's Note:**

> The Day 9 prompt for [N7 Month](https://n7month.tumblr.com/post/188450175349/n7-month-challenge) was 'Flora'. I went in a slightly different direction than I think most people might. And, as usual, it's Kaidan & Allie (though more Allie than anything).
> 
> If you find any glaring errors, please let me know. I did proofread it, but it's NaNo, so I did the bare minimum.

Allie was always drawn to the shy ones. Every time she did a PR run, her eyes scanned the crowd for the people who seemed to timid or nervous to get her autograph. Today was no different. A small crowd gathered around her, clamoring for holos and autographs while James and Kaidan did their best to keep things under control. They both knew to keep a lookout for the loners, though they did so more for security reasons than for Allie wanting to include everyone.

“Lola,' James gave her a gentle nudge. “To your five o'clock.”

Allie discreetly turned and saw two children. She guessed they were siblings – the looked similar and the smaller one was clutching the bigger one's hand for dear life. “I see them,” she said. “Let's wait until things die down here a little. Just keep an eye on them and let me know if you see them leave, ok?”

James nodded and Allie continued to autograph pictures and pieces of paper while smiling and trying not to let the constant flash of cameras blind her. When they finished, she made her way to where the pair of kids were standing. “Hey,” she said, waving at them. “Don't like crowds?”

The younger of the two, ducked behind the legs of the older one. “It's ok,” Allie heard him whisper. “It's Commander Shepard.”

Allie didn't bother to correct them. Her rank didn't really matter right now, not for something like this.

“Come on, you wanted to meet her! Mom made me stay home today so you could come here! Don't be like this!” she heard the older child groan.

Allie sat on the ground directly in front of the older child and peered around their legs at the little one. “Hi,” she said again. “What's your name?”

“Flora,” came the barely discernible whisper.

“Flora? That's such a pretty name!” Allie exclaimed. “My name is Allie. Do you want to come out and talk to me?”

Flora kept one arm wrapped snuggly around her sibling's leg and the other one clutched a Commander Shepard stuffed doll, giving Allie a look of wide-eyed uncertainty. Allie smiled when she saw it, remembering when she was approached about a line of toys for smaller children. “May I see your doll?” she asked.

Flora glanced at the doll, then thrust her out toward Allie. The doll was obviously well-loved – the yarn that made up the hair was knotted together, some of the stitches that made up the face were missing, and there were wear marks in the material from where the child kept a hold of it. “She looks like she goes with you everywhere. I'll bet you love her a lot, don't you?” Allie asked softly, handing the doll back.

Flora just nodded, her eyes still wide as saucers, her arm still wrapped around her brother's leg. Allie continued trying to coax the girl out and talk, but she wouldn't budge. Kaidan even tried, but Flora was determined to stay put. The thing that got her moving was the appearance of one Mr. James Vega.

“Hey, Lola, I think we're good to go here,” he called, walking toward the small group. Flora's eyes got even bigger, if that were possible, and gaped at him as he neared. He could see the girl was shy, so he squatted down and said, “So, who do we have here? You look like you might need an airplane ride, hm?”

Flora nodded a bit and held her dolly-arm out to James, but still had her other arm wrapped around her brother.

“You'll have to let go of his leg, sweetheart,” he said. “I can't give you both a ride.”

As soon as she let go, James scooped her up, bracing her chest on his massive forearm and put his other hand on her back. He swung her around in circles, vibrating his lips together to make an airplane noise.

Allie and Kaidan couldn't help but laugh while Flora squealed and giggled. James occasionally played with kids that were part of a PR crowd, but not too often and when he did, it was never anything like this. Kaidan pulled up his omnitool and snapped a few holos and vids. “This will look great on the extranet,” he laughed.

The airplane ride was exactly what Flora needed to break her out of her shell. When James finished and set her down, she started babbling a mile a minute, trying to explain to James her dolly was like Allie and that Kaidan was so handsome and James was big like the monster in her closet but not as scary.

The three war heroes let her ramble about anything and everything, at least until Allie saw James glance over her shoulder and give a slight nod, most likely some silent communication between him and EDI about their schedule. “Hey, Flora, we have to go now,” he said, giving Kaidan and Allie each a look. “Do you want our autographs?”

Her brother, who's name was also James, explained they didn't have anything to write on, but Kaidan pulled a pad from one of his pockets while Allie supplied the pen. When they were done, Flora walked happily alongside her brother, still excited to have met some of the Normandy's crew.

Allie watched them walk away with a smile on her face. 'You aren't jealous that I'm stealing your fans, are you, Lola?” James grinned and nudged her arms.

“Nope. Not at all,” Allie nudged him back. “Thanks for getting her to have some fun. It's hard when you know they want to talk, but they're too shy.”

“Eh, it's a gift,” James replied. “No one can resist my charm.”

Kaidan coughed – a noise that sounded an awful lot like the word 'bullshit' – and Allie bit back a laugh. 

“Well, we should probably get back on board and head off to the next stop,” she sighed. PR runs weren't her favorite thing to do, but getting to interact with kids always made them a lot better.


End file.
